A novel dual feedwater circuit for a parabolic trough solar power plant.

The validated dynamic model of a parabolic trough power plant (PTPP) is improved by the combination of a new feedwater circuit (feedwater/HTF circuit) and a reference feedwater circuit (feedwater/steam circuit) as well as the development of the steam turbine model. Such design represents the first effort of research to utilize a dual feedwater circuit inside the PTPP to increase the power output in the daylight from 50 to 68 MW and raise night operating hours at a lower cost. The purpose of increasing the operating night hours at a power (48 MW) as in the reference PTPP is to get rid of the fossil fuel backup system and rely only on the absorbed solar energy and the stored energy in the molten salt.